


after all the rain has left

by strifescloud



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: M/M, handwavy materia science, nightmare dreamscape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 09:22:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7042336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strifescloud/pseuds/strifescloud
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>dystopia /dɪsˈtəʊpɪə/ "imaginary bad place" from Greek dys- "bad, abnormal, difficult" + utopia "no place, nowhere"</p><p>Cloud becomes trapped in a cycle of nightmares. It falls to Genesis to convince him to wake up.</p><p>(fill for strifesodos week day 4 - utopia/dystopia)</p>
            </blockquote>





	after all the rain has left

**Author's Note:**

> i feel like this fic has been dragged out of the fuckin edges of my overworked soul because its one of the last ones im doing for this week and work just keeps calling me in and its the last week of semester rip  
> for that reason i do feel like it lacks something, for which i apologise, but it hit 2k words so up on ao3 it goes
> 
> as a linguistics undergraduate i also ended up getting sidetracked after googling the etymology of utopia lmao
> 
> im sure this is not what the prompt intended but. here we are

Genesis ran his sword through another nightmarish beast and wondered how this had gone so terribly wrong.

It had started innocuously enough - the WRO had needed help tracking fugitives that had (perhaps not coincidentally, Genesis had realised) been seen recently near their home. Cloud had volunteered to help with the search and Genesis, who was hardly going to let Cloud traipse off into the wilderness and leave him at home, alone and bored, followed along.

Things had rapidly gone downhill from there.

At first Genesis had thought the device they had used simply concentrated the power of a Sleep materia, enough to overcome the resistance of the Ribbon Cloud habitually kept tied around his arm.

When Esunas and Remedies failed to wake him, Genesis began to feel the stirrings of true fear.

The fugitives had already escaped again, having taken advantage of his momentary distraction to flee further into the darkening woods. Genesis cast another Esuna, as strong as he could make it, and watched Cloud’s face carefully for any sign of waking.

Nothing.

Whatever had hit him clearly hadn’t been a mere Sleep materia. They were still deep into the woods, with no towns for miles in any direction, and Genesis didn’t have the supplies for anything other than standard battlefield medicine. His options were limited.

He swallowed his pride, took a deep breath, and called Reeve.

“Genesis?”

“Reeve. They had some kind of device - I didn’t see much of it. I thought it was powered by Sleep materia, but Cloud- I can’t wake him up.” He kept his voice even, refusing to show a shred of his fear. He had been a SOLDIER, once - losing it in the field was the last thing they needed.

There was a long pause before Reeve spoke again.

“I can have a transport come out. Bring him back here, I’ll get the science division working on it.”

“I’ll head for the edge of the forest. And Reeve - they were headed west. If you don’t have the stomach to kill them, bring them in and I’ll do it myself.” He disconnected the line abruptly, picking Cloud up and heading towards the forest’s edge. He made no secret of his ruthless viewpoint on Cloud’s safety, and he didn’t need Reeve’s disapproving lecture on the matter either.

Reeve had no place to talk, anyway - most higher-ups at Shinra had hidden more than one skeleton in their closets.

The transport found them quickly enough once they were out into the open, loading them on board with more than one wary glance in Genesis’s direction. Ignoring them, Genesis sat beside Cloud’s motionless form, grasping tightly to one hand as they flew towards the WRO headquarters.

Things didn’t improve much when they arrived.

“You’re saying you can’t fix it,” Genesis nearly snarled, eyes narrowing.

“ _We_ can’t, no. But...you might be able to-”

“ _Stop_ playing games with me,” Genesis slammed his hand on the desk, cracking the surface, “and tell me what you know.”

Reeve sighed, but relented under the force of Genesis’s poisonous glare.

“This technology...it’s not unfamiliar. It’s ours - we’ve been experimenting with different types of containment options for...otherwise uncontrollable individuals.”

“Individuals like us,” Genesis replied slowly, an unpleasant realisation forming in his mind, “that’s why it worked on Cloud, despite the Ribbon.”

“Well, yes, but you must believe me when I say that we had no intention of using it on-”

“I don’t care. You made this - wake him up.”

“The technology - it’s incomplete. Essentially it... _traps_ a person within a loop of dreams, so that they never realise that they can wake up.”

“Cloud’s coma in Mideel...that’s where you got the idea.” Reeve grimaced.

“I know it’s callous, but yes. Unfortunately, we haven’t got the _dream_ part quite right. Cloud is stuck in nightmares - ones that have a very real danger. We obviously haven’t tested this, but we believe that if you die in the nightmare, your body will begin to believe that you are truly dead, and shut down accordingly.”

“ _Wake him up_.”

“We can’t, not from the outside. But from within…” Reeve eyed Genesis consideringly, “we think that if someone can find Cloud within the nightmare and make him realise the truth, then he will wake up.”

“How do I get in?”

“Follow me.”

* * *

Genesis was still and quiet as the scientists hurried around him, setting up equipment and murmuring nervously to each other, still shooting him wary glances. His eyes were trained on Cloud. If Reeve hadn’t told him otherwise he would have never believed that Cloud was having nightmares. He rarely looked so peaceful in sleep.

“We’re ready for you.”

“Reeve,” his gaze was locked on Cloud’s face, but he could feel the force of the other man’s attention come to rest on his face, “you should pray to every deity you worship that he comes out of this alive, because if I wake up without him I won’t hesitate to raze this building and your entire legacy to the ground.”

“It wasn’t-”

“ _Your_ technology did this. I will end it.”

He grabbed Cloud’s hand and closed his eyes, hearing the machines whirr to life around him.

There was a flash of heat and sound, and he was falling.

He opened his eyes to the sight of snow-covered trees, the air still around him.

“Nightmarish, indeed,” he murmured to himself. There were depressions in the snow nearby, most likely footprints, and a trail of broken branches that led a winding path through the trees. A chase, it would seem - one that might lead him to Cloud.

A shout in the distance startled him out of his thoughts.

It had come from his left, roughly where the trail seemed to lead, so he picked up the pace, moving quickly but as quiet as he could through the still forest. He could hear the growls of beasts growing louder as moved, likely what had caused the shout, and when the dense branches broke into a clearing he stopped at the sight of them.

They had been Nibel wolves once, he thought, though they were now so misshapen he could scarcely tell. They circled menacingly around the clearing, their glowing eyes trained on the huddled figure in the centre.

Genesis saw a mess of blond spikes though the circling mass and didn’t even think to hesitate before running his sword through the closest of them.

He blinked in surprise as the corpse fell to the ground, barely bringing it back up in time to parry another lunging monstrosity. He didn’t have the sword before, but just as he needed one it had appeared in his hand, as easily as breathing, to defend Cloud from these nightmares.

 _Dreams_ , he thought with a dawning realisation. He had read about studies on lucid dreams - once you knew you were in one, it was simple enough to manipulate what your dreams held.

As soon as the final wolf was dead the sword disappeared, fading out so innocuously that Genesis barely noticed. He knelt beside Cloud, gently grabbing his shoulder to avoid frightening him further.

“Cloud, dearest, this is only a dream. We have to get out of here,” he swallowed hard, feeling his fear rise again, “preferably very soon.”

When Cloud raised his head Genesis had only barely a second to process that it wasn’t _his_ Cloud, but the young teenager Cloud had been, before the world dissolved into white.

It was far from over.

Genesis chased the spectre of Cloud through dream after dream, defending a young Cloud from twisted visions from his early life. It would have been enlightening under different circumstances, as Cloud didn’t often speak of his childhood, but with his very life in the balance Genesis could barely process anything other than finding him again and again, trying to break him out of the cycle.

The Cloud in the dreams was growing older and older, the nightmares progressing linearly through his life, drawing forms from the hardships he had faced over the years. It was only when Genesis came face to face with a horrifying spectre of Sephiroth that he realised he was running out of time.

The silent figure glared poisonously at him. Genesis wondered if this was no longer just Cloud’s nightmare, but his own as well.

He stared back at the twisted vision that almost looked like his old friend (enemy) for a long moment before running his sword through its heart. It offered no resistance.

“Cloud.” His sword dissipated again as he ran towards the motionless figure, praying to the Goddess that this time, maybe, they could escape this fruitless cycle.

“Genesis,” Cloud finally said, slowly, and Genesis thought his legs might give out from the weight of his relief, “what’re you- what’s- how are you _here_?”

“I know I left my white horse and shining armour in the _other_ landscape of hellish nightmares, darling, but really-”

“What?”

“I’m _saving_ you. It’s all very heroic and distracting, I know, but you have to wake up.” He squeezed Cloud’s shoulders tightly, hoping to impart the urgency he was feeling.

“I don’t understand…” Cloud looked dazed, eyes flitting around as though searching for answers.

“This is a dream. Cloud. _Cloud_.” His gaze finally darted back to Genesis, looking slightly clearer, “You’re dreaming. You have to wake up. Soon, preferably.”

Their surroundings were flickering around them, reflecting the inner confusion that Cloud was feeling. Buildings and trees faded in and out from the encompassing white glow, and Genesis could hear the whispers of new nightmares forming in the distance.

He followed Cloud’s newly-distracted gaze down, trying to take back his attention, and felt his breath catch at what he saw.

Nothing ever really prepares you for the sight of your own bloody, lifeless corpse.

He felt Cloud square his shoulders under his hands, and when their eyes meet again there is a new glint of steel in Cloud’s expression.

“This is a dream. A nightmare.”

“Yes, that is what I’ve been _trying_ to tell you.” He was being snappish to cover his relief, but he felt that Cloud saw through it anyway. Cloud closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“All I have to do is _wake up._ ”

He opened his eyes and the world faded to white.

* * *

They both jerk awake at the same time, startling one scientist so badly that he screams.

“You’re alright, dear heart?”

Cloud nodded, but his eyes were downcast and his expression grim. He looked back up at Genesis searchingly.

“Yeah, I’m okay. You?”

“Perfectly fine, of course.” He wanted desperately to restore the light to Cloud’s eyes. “It was almost nice to play the _hero_ for once.”

“If you start quoting Loveless at me,” Cloud began, a spark of real humour returning to his expression, “I will go straight back to sleep.”

“You _wound_ me, beloved.” He would have meant it, too, if the familiar banter had not brought a smile to Cloud’s face. “I will simply have to read it to you while you sleep, in hope that the nuances of meaning might,” he waved one hand airily, letting a mocking tone enter his voice,”penetrate your subconscious.”

“Please. Don’t.”

“Have you not _endured torment_ -”

“No.”

“- _to find the end of the journey-_ ”

“ _Stop_.”

Genesis cut himself off as Cloud laughed softly, edging closer to him now that the scientists had given them some privacy. They sat in silence for a long moment, hands still intertwined. Cloud gave Genesis a long, considering look before he spoke.

“Sephiroth.”

Genesis tightened his grip on Cloud’s hand.

“You killed him to get to me.”

“It wasn’t him,” Genesis replied with a wry twist of his lips, “just a spectre conjured from your memories.”

“He was your friend.”

“He was also my enemy - and yours.”

That was enough, in Genesis’s opinion. Cloud looked down at their joined hands.

“Thank you,” he murmured.

Later, Genesis would let himself scream Reeve’s office down with the full force of his fury, no longer distracted by Cloud’s imminent danger. If the WRO hadn’t already found the perpetrators Genesis would, and they would suffer for _daring_ to harm Cloud in anyway.

For now, though, it was enough to let Cloud lean his head on Genesis’s shoulder, and just _be_.

**Author's Note:**

> alrighty, thanks folks
> 
> for my shorter fills for the week + a variety of other things feel free to stop by at strifescloud.tumblr.com
> 
> title from 'manhattan' by say anything which is my #1 strifesodos song probably


End file.
